Republicans have tried to push back on this narrative for the last few years. One not very effective strategy during the election was for Romney to whine that the Democrats shouldn't be discussing crazy comments by the likes of Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock about 'real rape' and how rape victims almost never get pregnant do to some natural ways for her body to 'shut it down' that is news to the medical world.
They insisted, in any case, that Akin and Mourdock spoke 'inelegantly' and made ill considered comments that shouldn't be used to tar the entire party. However, we have another GOPer making 'inelegant' remarks about rape and abortion-he too believes that raped women don't get pregnant:
"Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) claimed Wednesday that the rate of pregnancy from rape is "very low" during a House Judiciary Committee mark-up of his legislation to ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
They insisted, in any case, that Akin and Mourdock spoke 'inelegantly' and made ill considered comments that shouldn't be used to tar the entire party. However, we have another GOPer making 'inelegant' remarks about rape and abortion-he too believes that raped women don't get pregnant:
"Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ) claimed Wednesday that the rate of pregnancy from rape is "very low" during a House Judiciary Committee mark-up of his legislation to ban abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
"The incidence of rape resulting in pregnancy are very low," Franks said, as quoted by theWashington Post."
"When you make that exception, there's usually a requirement to report the rape within 48 hours," he said. "And in this case, that's impossible because this is in the sixth month of gestation. And that’s what completely negates and vitiates the purpose of such an amendment."
"The Arizonan was referring to an amendment by Democrats to add an exception for pregnancies that result from rape and incest. The GOP-led panel rejected that amendment."
"Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) called Franks' remark "astonishing" and lacking in scientific basis."
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/gop-congressman-pregnancy-rate-from-rape-is-very?ref=fpb
This underscores that while Akin and Mourdock were hung out to dry by the GOP leadership last year, in fact they were articulating the party's vision about women-birth control, abortion, rape-none of it was 'misspeaking.'
Nor are these boneheaded comments to be taken as not indicative of the party's genuine policies. Indeed, what we've seen in 2013 is far from the GOP being in any way chastened, they've intensified the war on women showing that the claim is not neither wrong nor overstated.
Right now the House stands ready to pass the '20 week abortion ban.'
"The GOP-led House of Representatives is set to vote next week on legislation outlawing abortions later than 20 weeks into pregnancy after Republicans passed it out of committee Wednesday by a vote of 20-12."
"The Judiciary Committee marked up the bill by Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ), an ardent foe of abortion rights, and approved it. The current threshold provided by the Supreme Court for a woman’s right to terminate her pregnancy is 24 weeks."
"A version of the legislation last year applied the 20-week abortion ban only to the District of Columbia. This year Republicans are invoking the case of abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell — the Philadelphia abortion doctor who was convicted last month of first-degree murders of three babies born alive — to argue for a nationwide ban on late-term abortion."
“The terrifying facts uncovered during the course of the trial of late-term abortionist Kermit Gosnell, and successive reports of similar atrocities committed across the country, remind us how an atmosphere of insensitivity can lead to horrific brutality,” said Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-TX). “Delivered or not, babies are babies, and they can feel pain at least by 20 weeks. It is time to welcome young children who can feel pain into the human family. And this bill, at last, will do just that.”
"Franks likened late-term abortion to a human rights issue on the scale of slavery and genocide."
"The bill is expected to pass the House and then die in the Democratic-led Senate, while winning the praise of anti-abortion voters whom Republicans rely on and incurring the wrath of reproductive rights advocates. While the Republican Party’s ongoing focus on curtailing legal abortion will energize social conservatives, it’s also likely to cost the party with women voters, who already prefer Democrats by considerable margins."
“The idea that the Republican men on this committee think they can tell the women of America they have to carry to term the product of a rape is outrageous,” said Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA).
"Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), echoing his Democratic colleagues’ arguments against the legislation, called it “misguided, cruel and unconstitutional.”
"There is not conclusive scientific evidence that fetuses can feel pain at 24 weeks of gestation. Just 1.4 percent of abortions involve fetuses older than 20 weeks, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — many of which are to protect the mother’s life or health."
At the very least this is only theatrics as the GOP House has no ability to see any of its wild eyed misogynistic laws actually take effect as long as they have just one House in Congress and the White House is safely in Democratic hands.
At the state level, where GOPers hold real power they have passed some of the most reactionary anti abortion bills in memory since Roe v. Wade has become law. In Wisconsin, GOP Governor Scott Walker wants to sign forced vaginal ultrasounds into law for women considering abortion.
"Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) has thrown his support behind an anti-abortion measure that’s currently moving through the state legislature, saying he will sign the bill into law if it makes it to his desk. SB 206would require women to undergo an ultrasound before getting an abortion — which would mandate an invasive transvaginal probe for some of the women who seek early abortions in their first trimester — and force one of the state’s last abortion clinics to close its doors."
"I don’t have any problem with ultrasound,” Walker told reporters on Tuesday in Milwaukee. “I think most people think ultrasounds are just fine.”
"Forced ultrasound bills mandate a medically unnecessary procedure that would otherwise be left up to the discretion of a woman and her doctor. Medical experts, including the largest national group representing thousands of OB-GYNs across the country, are opposed to this type of legislation because they say it interferes with their work and compromises their relationships with patients. “All of a sudden, the Senate is full of doctors,” Wisconsin Sen. Tim Cullen (D) said in reference to SB 206′s advancement.
"And, even though the lawmakers who push for mandatory ultrasound measures sometimesdeny it, these laws also require many women to undergo an invasive transvaginal probe. Before 12 weeks of pregnancy, a transvaginal ultrasound is the only way to detect a clear image— and, since the vast majority of women in the United States seek abortion services in their first trimester, those women must submit to an invasive probe in order to comply with these burdensome laws. Over the past year, reproductive rights advocates have repeatedly decried transvaginal ultrasound laws as “state sponsored rape.”
"SB 206 doesn’t stop there. The proposed legislation also includes a provision that would imposeadditional restrictions on abortion clinics, which would ultimately force a Planned Parenthood clinic to shut down. Since there are only four health clinics in the entire state of Wisconsin that currently provide abortion care, SB 206 could end up severely limiting women’s reproductive access."
Yes, it's good to know that Governor Walker has 'no problem' with forced ultrasounds. How many actual female persons feel the same way? I haven't heard any. If there were any the GOPers would be showcasing them. The trouble is that no one but GOP men seem to 'not have a problem' with forced ultrasound-you like how he leaves out the forced nature of these ultra sounds he wants.
Similar laws are being pushed in Ohio, Pennsylvania and have been passed in Mississippi. In Iowa, there's a bill that would make every abortion performed in the state up to the discretion of the GOP Governor.
If only I were joking. Meanwhile, some of these GOP laws go so far you wonder if they pass constitutional mustard.
Gov. Jack Dalrymple signed legislation Tuesday that that would make North Dakota the nation’s most restrictive state on abortion rights, banning the procedure if a fetal heartbeat can be detected – something that can happen as early as six weeks into a pregnancy.
The Republican governor also signed into law another measure that would makes North Dakota the first to ban abortions based on genetic defects such as Down syndrome, and a measure that requires a doctor who performs abortions to be a physician with hospital-admitting privileges.
Darlymple goes into this fully aware that it may well be declared unconstitutional:
"North Dakota's governor positioned the oil-rich state Tuesday as a primary battleground in the decades-old fight over abortion rights, signing into law the nation's toughest restriction on the procedure and urging lawmakers to set aside cash for an inevitable legal challenge."
"Minutes after Republican Gov. Jack Dalrymple signed three anti-abortion measures – one banning them when a heartbeat can be detected, which is as early as six weeks into a pregnancy – unsolicited donations began pouring into the state's lone abortion clinic to help opponents prove the new laws are unconstitutional."
"Although the likelihood of this measure surviving a court challenge remains in question, this bill is nevertheless a legitimate attempt by a state legislature to discover the boundaries of Roe v. Wade," Dalrymple said in a statement, referring to the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion up to until a fetus is considered viable – usually at 22 to 24 weeks."
I'm not fond of the GOP economic message as anyone who's read a post or two must know. However, it's things like this that makes it simply impossible for me to ever consider voting for anyone in this party in a million year. If you want to know 'how I can hate anyone' I'd say look at people who would like to force women to carry the rapist's baby to term or go to prison.That there's a gender gap is not surprising. What's surprising is how small it actually is.
You may not think of 'shock jock' Howard Stern as a political philosopher but he got it right years ago when he said that any woman who votes for this party should just mail her uterus to the GOP.
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